Each baby brings a sandwich under the arm

In Mexico we have a saying: "Each baby brings a sandwich under the arm". (actually the saying is Torta which is a type of Mexican sandwich) and in Spanish is " Cada bebe trae una torta bajo el brazo"

The meaning is that each baby brings blessings and their own livelihood when he/ she arrives into a family. Many times the meaning is also that a baby will bring a good job to the family. That if you have a baby God will provide.

I have not written a lot about it here, but DH and I have been struggling with DH´s lack of a good job now with the baby coming soon. It really has made us face the fact that we are depending far more than we would like to on my job and that we truly cannot wait anymore for the time when DH will again have a good job.

This has been a big cross together with IF.

So here I am thinking a lot about this saying since Thursday when I received an unexpected call. And then also today when I received another extremely unexpected call.

In the last 2 days I have been asked to consider 2 very, very good job opportunities without even looking for them while we are waiting for our adoption.

Yet somehow each offers the opportunity to combine a career and motherhood also and make me question what I am doing at a job I do not like

I really do not know what to make of all of this. God is allowing this at the exact time when our lives will complely change with our adoption.

For many years I was a career woman, yet I feel all has changed, first with marriage and now with pending motherhood.

During my single days the more I did not find the right person the more I focused on my career and also church.

When I got married I made a very, very difficult decision , but one that was right at the time. I left a position which I loved and moved into one that I did not love, but was a better fit with a family.

This old position was head of marketing for a very renowned brand at the time. I was in charge of purchasing and designing advertising campaigns, events, research, a very big budget and had to be very creative. I worked with many countries, something that I loved inmensely,

To reach this position took me over 6 years in the company and I loved every minute of it.

Then came my DH´s marriage proposal and I had to really reflect on what I truly wanted. A marriage and this same pace were clearly not compatible and also I looked at the top women of the company and most were divorced, single or in non commited relationships. None had children.

My best option then was to move to another part of the company which is very technical, boring and non exciting (for me at least as a non engineer). We market to industry and not the end consumer. My job was also head of marketing, now for Latin America, which sounded even better than before, but in reality it was easier and far more compatible with a family and not better professionally.

My travels were greatly reduced and I thought I would quit when the time came to have babies. I knew that probably I would like to continue working always, but maybe part time only.

Soon after we got married and I had changed positions my DH lost his corporate job and since then has had jobs that have brought money, but not enough to support a family and much less IF treatments. Right now there is a good one that might be available, but we know the process will be long.

So I had to continue with my job, which was extremely hard since I did not love it and found it extremely boring at times. Days dragged on and on. And of course no baby in sight.

This has been going on for almost 4 years now.

To say the least it has been hard: no being pregnant and having to stay at a job I did not really like, but I did not want to look for a new one in case a baby came.

The reasons why I stayed were: I knew the job well enough that it could be easily compatible with a family and the company also has great family life policies like home office, tons of flexibility and best of all this year my boss had given me four months maternity leave for our adoption ( he was nice enough to fight for this for me since there are no laws for adoption maternity leave yet, they are in process and way less time)

So last week there I was thinking about how I would combine my job, Napro and a baby after maternity leave when an urgent call came in.

It was from the head of communications and brand of a very prestigious institute in Mexico. He wanted to speak urgently with me regarding an opportunity there. He called me at least 10 times until we finally were able to speak.

Well on Monday he invited me to lunch and what was supposed to be an interview turned out to be practically a job offer. He will be leaving this position soon due to personal reasons and was asked by the dean to select several candidates. It turned out that he had me in mind and during the interview basically he told me that my profile would be very welcome and that I was the strongest candidate.

I told him about our adoption and he was very serious for a moment, but then said that he thought they could wait for me to return from maternity leave.

He also told me the institute had a flexible work schedule and also was implementing home office type of arrangements for women.

When the lunch ended (after almost 3.5 hours!) he asked me to really think things over, since I would be moving from the corporate environment to the non profit one and the change could be dramatic, but also that perhaps it would really make my heart happy. It was a very, very big temptation.

So all afternoon yesterday I spent making some calls to find out what really working there is like and really thinking about what I want and most importantly what is best for my family.

My DH is very happy since he thinks this would make me much happier than right now and thinks that it would be very compatible with a family, but I am not sure.

So today I arrive at the office thinking about all of this when I get a call from a dear friend within my company with whom I worked with for 2 years.

He starts off by telling me that my exact same position in the USA/Canada area had become vacant again (long story short: the person that held my position there quit in March and I was asked to apply. I did not due to the adoption and they in turn hired a local person. Well this person just quit without even really starting due to personal reasons) and that they were asking him to inquire if I would want to move there or take on both my position here and the one in USA/ Canada.

the opportunity to relocate and /or a big promotion.

But not only this.... if I would be interested in taking on a much bigger responsability by taking the position of marketing head of several regions: America (the continent) and part of Europe. They were thinking about it now that the person had left. Most probably it would not entail a lot of travel since most of the work is virtual and best of all: far more interesting than right now.

My jaw dropped.

I do not understand why all of this comes at this time. Right when our lives are about to change dramatically with the coming of the baby.

I also do not know what this all would mean to us as a family.

A move? a better position? me happier?

I even thought: easier access to Napro treatment if we move to the USA!!! (doing it from Mexico is a nightmare right now with no doctors!)

My head was spinning, yet I feel inmense peace.

Maybe all will be nothing and I will no need to make a decision, yet I would like to think that the baby is bringing a sandwich under his/ her arm and other than see it as something bad like me not focusing on family or a temptation, that God is wanting my DH and I to know that He will be there for us.

That we should not worry too much and that when a life comes into your life it always brings blessings

That truly each baby brings a sandwich under the arm

I do not know how this all will turn out, but I want to believe this. God provides and sometimes in the most unexpected ways.